Enterprise AI, disputed payments, and Cursor's APJ bet

This Week's Analysis

How enterprise AI could reshape Asia's economies

Short Reads

1. What does the SFA Code say if a customer disputes a payment in Singapore?

   If a customer in Singapore disputes a payment, the answer isn't necessarily buried in a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) rule. The Singapore FinTech Association has published a Payments Industry Code of Conduct, an industry-written standard covering what participating firms show customers, put in contracts and do with a complaint. This Short Read walks through what the Code actually says.

   Read on Relay Asia →
2. Cursor targets APJ's legacy software problem, worth USD 20 billion a year

   A lot of enterprise software in APJ still runs on technology built years, sometimes decades, ago. Cursor estimates the legacy modernisation opportunity across the region at around USD 20 billion a year, as banks and other large organisations look to refactor systems that have become expensive to maintain. Its proposition is not simply to help developers write code faster. It is to use AI to understand and change software that already runs the business. This Short Read looks at what Cursor is building in APJ, and what SpaceX's acquisition could mean for that strategy.

   Read on Relay Asia →

Suggested Reads

• TIME names its 2026 TIME100 AI list. The latest TIME100 AI list last week shows that the AI story in Asia is no longer confined to the usual US names. Alibaba's Eddie Wu is on the cover, while Moonshot AI's Yang Zhilin gets a mention for Chinese models that have, at times, outperformed advanced US systems. Another name worth watching for the APAC region is Xiao Hong, founder of Manus. TIME walks through the Singapore headquarters move, Meta's acquisition, and Beijing ordering the deal unwound. This week Manus said the founding team is back in charge. We wrote in August about what that Singapore-China corridor could mean.
• Bangkok halts three planned data centres pending tighter safety rules. Bangkok actually stopped three standalone data-centre projects this week. Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said six large applications have come in since 2021-22; three were approved, while the remaining three are now on hold as the city tightens rules around fuel storage, land use, safety, electricity and water. The immediate trigger was concern over diesel storage at one site. But the more interesting part is what happens when data-centre investment meets the physical limits and regulation of a city. If you read our August Analysis on what a data centre actually is, this feels like the next chapter: applications being sent back. The Nation also published a piece on why Thailand still has no single data-centre regulator.
• MiniMax and Z.ai are growing up with big revenue jumps but a lot more spending. China's January AI IPOs are starting to show what the business looks like after the hype. Asia Tech Review says Z.ai's first-half revenue rose nearly 400% to USD 136 million, while MiniMax's climbed 283% to USD 116.6 million. Neither is close to profitability: MiniMax's adjusted net loss more than doubled to USD 293 million. The interesting detail is where the revenue is coming from. Z.ai is moving from on-premise deployments towards cloud products that customers can buy directly, while MiniMax's platform and enterprise business grew more than 700%. The companies are starting to look less like model labs and more like software businesses.
• MAS commits SGD 220 million to the next phase of FinTech innovation. If you work in Singapore finance, this one's for you. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has committed SGD 220 million over three years to the next phase of its Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme. One track, AI Pathfinder, is aimed at helping banks and insurers deploy market-ready AI tools already listed on PathFin.ai, rather than starting another pilot from scratch. Singapore now counts more than 1,800 FinTech firms.
• Supporting Thailand's next generation of AI startups. OpenAI and Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation have launched an eight-week accelerator for ten Bangkok startups, split between health and wellness and education. It is OpenAI's first public-private partnership with the Thai government aimed at local founders. Each team gets USD 2,000 in API credits and a mentor, with a Demo Day in November. OpenAI says Thailand is already among the top 20 countries for ChatGPT weekly users.
• A short sketch on what "winning the AI race" actually means. And just for giggles, watch this sketch about the "AI race". One person keeps asking what China would actually win. The other can only answer: the race. It's 90 seconds of the metaphor eating itself.